Yesterday, I posted a great quote about atheism from C. S. Lewis on Facebook and Twitter, and it was shared and retweeted a lot. As a result, some atheists started challenging me on Twitter, and when I didn’t respond to them at length — especially during my radio show today! — they took that as a sign that I had no solid responses for them. (Sigh.)
This was the C. S. Lewis quote: “Atheists express their rage against God although in their view He does not exist.” Not surprisingly, some atheists tweeted their rage to me (!), telling me it was not true and then bombarding me with, for the most part, hostile attacks on religion rather than arguments with substance (anyway, how much substance is there on Twitter anyway)? So, I posted these five short notes to clear things up. Perhaps you have had similar experiences?
This is what I posted in successive tweets:
Here are 5 quick notes for those who connect with me on Twitter. Thanks for taking a minute to read them (in separate tweets)
1) If you receive a tweet from me that you don’t like & you didn’t sign up to follow me, don’t get mad at me. Talk to whoever retweeted it.
2) Please understand that from 2-4 PM, M-F, I’m doing a live radio show. Calling me out as non-responsive then doesn’t make you look strong.
3) Although I don’t have a big social media base — 20,000+ on FB and Twitter — I can’t respond to most. Please don’t take it personally. [Update as of September 4, 2014: Actually, our social media base has gotten much larger, with more than 65,000 fans/followers/friends on FB and Twitter, reaching as many as 8.7 million in a given week, so I don’t personally see the vast majority of posts, comments, and tweets.]
4) Sorry, but I don’t find 140 character messages the best place for sophisticated intellectual debate. If you’re serious, call my show.
5) If I have no idea who u are and u attack me and my beliefs, the fact u don’t get detailed responses doesn’t mean I have none. God bless!
Obviously, a lot of this applies to the Facebook world too, but it’s all the more exaggerated in the Twitter universe — which, in a real sense, is a picture of American society today. Just another reason we need a gospel-based, cultural revolution! It will make community more real and deep.
Just sharing my heart!
